HELP: Advice regarding criminal damage to car?

pieandapint_2

Hey everybody, I'm having some trouble I hope you could help me with.

Last Friday I was woken at 3:20am to find an occupent of the flat above shouting and was swinging the down pipe off the house guttering system around (which he had broken off of the house in a drunken state). I'd only just fallen to sleep and was angry to have been woken as I was for getting up at 5:30.

Anyway, I got up the next day and discovered he'd broken the aerial and mount off of my car causing irrepairable damage.

I put a letter through their door, and bumped into him while parking my car the next day, he apologised and said for me to put a bill through for the cost of the repair.

Yesterday (Monday) I put a letter informing him of the total cost of the repair (£278.73) and asking for payment within the next 3 days. Being a student I cannot see him being willing to part with that kind of money.

How can I go about recovering the cost of the damage caused to my vehicle?

My main problems are that I do not know his name, or non-university address, and since the university year is almost over, am afraid he's going to delay things so he can escape from paying up.

I saw him doing it so am thinking of putting another letter through on Friday saying that if payment is not received over the weekend I will press charges for criminal damage and reclaim the money via the small claims court.

If anybody could help me with this matter I would be really grateful... It's really playing on my mind which isn't a good thing considering I'm currently sitting my finals and should be thinking about other things.

Anyway, thanks in advance.
Dave

pieandapint_2

Anybody got anything at all?

pinkshoes

I'd go round and see him in person, give him a copy of the quote, and ask him if it's possible to pay within 3 working days. If he says no, then ask him for his name, home address, and mobile number so you can contact him to sort out payment, then tell him you're going to verify this with the uni. Also tell him that if it doesn't check out, then you'll have to go to the police.

Go to the university with this info, and check that he's given you a genuine name/address, explain to them what's happened, tell them that he admitted it, and ask them if there's anything they can do to make him pay for the damage, otherwise you'll have to go to the police and have him charged with criminal damage.

It's end of term, so i'm figuring he's probably broke!

jrrowleyws

I doubt the uni will just hand over student info. You'd probabily have to have the police involved for information like that to be revealed.

pieandapint_2

albertross wrote: »

As he has said he will pay for the damage, I suggest you either give him chance to do that, or speak to him about it rather than putting threatening letters through the letterbox. Trying a friendly approach may elicit a better response.

Why does an aerial and mount cost that much, is the bodywork damaged?

It costs so much beacuse he's also damaged the aerial mount, the aerial itself is only £6.15+vat but he's broken the threaded section out of the mount, which cannot be repaired and costs £126+vat and because he's broken that, and the aerial is at the back of the car labour costs are £105+vat as they have to remove the headlining and dash.

morg_monster

just a suggestion - have you paid for this already and did you shop around to find the cheapest quote? Just to warn that if he argues with the price you might not get all of the money back if he thinks it could have been done elsewhere.
Other than that - yeah i would keep it friendly at the moment. Can you find out what department he is in at least. Then if you need to get the police involved at least you have some idea of how to track him down.
I have to say when i was a student i have to say the vast majority of people I knew at uni then would have paid up very apologetically without needing threat of police involvement. hope this chap is similar!

Psykicpup

Why 3 days - it doesnt seem very long to me for anyone let alone a student to scrape up the cash?

kickstart_3

I dont think you have any chance , he might have said bring the bill round just to shut you up , but i doubt he will pay it. As for ringing the police , probably a waste of time , the first thing they will ask is , have you any witnessess? Its really your word against his if not . Its annoying these things happen , i know having had my car keyed several times!.

Oldbaldwiser_2

Worth pointing out that involving the police will not get your money back they will prosecute him for criminal damage which if proved may result in you being awarded damages by the court but he can then elect to pay you at a silly minimal amount eg £1.00 per month dependant on his income, but even this is not guaranteed - it is a popular misconception that by having police involved will enable you to obtain your money back! Best method at the moment is softly softly and consider small claims court if it goes pear shaped - I would also look to get other quotes for the job

tom188

if there is any evidence, other than from the op. if not, i dont think there is a case.

pieandapint_2

I've had a few quotes for the job but that one stated was the cheapest, all parts are from fiat so their prices are the same, it's just the labour costs that are different and that was only by £5!

from what I understand involving the police is not the best approach, my idea was to involve the police in the hope that they are more likely to get correct name and address etc. incase I need to take it to small claims court.

And regarding the 3 days, I think that is more than fair! He shouldn't have damaged my property and caused me inconvenience in the first place. He's the person in the wrong, not me!

If he doesn't pay up, I may go and ask the neighbour if they saw anything, he was being extremely loud so chances are I wasn't the only person to be woken up.

Thanks for all the help so far
Dave